CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon looked up into the sky and blinked, staring in awe at the aurora. He nodded dumbly and followed closer than before, nearly touching Bone's tail.

”They are pretty,” he agreed, making his way forward once more.

When they arrived he finally fell onto his side with a pained groan, carefully folding his wings against him as he shuffled into a curled position. He sighed heavily and peered at Bone, contemplating.

”Meat, mostly,” he said, ”And I guess those bananas you made.”

Normally when he ate anything that was plant-like he became ill, often nauseous. He simply couldn't digest anything of the sort.

”*I could eat,” he continued, ”Though maybe it's best if you tried to heal me first.”

@Bone

"I won't be able to," she explained, watching her new brother curl up and settle in. Already she felt protective, warm. And that was nothing to do with Mother's murmurs in her ear, and in her heart. "I'll explain after, all right? Don't worry, for now. Give me a few minutes, and I'll bring back something to eat. Then I can heal you and you can eat." She didn't really want to tell him how it worked--that she was about to take on half his wounds and would be in no state to hunt for awhile. No; best to just... find something, and let things unfold naturally.

She turned and struck out, speaking sidelong as she went. "I won't be long, I promise." Already she could feel Mother sifting through the various Lessers, looking to pick one that she could spare hunt through their eyes. It didn't occur to Bone--it couldn't--that feeding one of the infected to Charon would infect him with Mother's spores. Each time her mind strayed in that direction, it seemed to bounce off the thought without recognizing it, and happily drift away again. She just assumed that Mother was using her various Lessers to guide Bone toward a creature not part of their family.

Oblivious, half-controlled, Bone took wing and soared out over the snowy plains. She felt Mother directing her, and didn't think much of it. She also didn't realize--again the thought was obliviously locked away from her reach--that the white, shaggy deer that wandered out into the open was perhaps a little too unwary, a little too unaware of its surroundings. Unafraid.

Bone swept down, claws first, and after a clumsy initial start she made quick work of the poor beast with talons and teeth. Then it was hoisted back up in her feet, and she launched skyward again, slowy and heavy wingbeats taking her back to the cave.

Her arrival was announced mere minutes later by the whomph-thud of her flight, and she landed heavily, gently skidding the loose-necked prey across the floor. "There you go," she offered, cheerily, and for some reason she felt so happy.

A brother-! A new brother, for-her family... Company!

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon squinted at his sibling as she skirted around his questioning, but resigned to let her leave with a sigh. She did say she'd explain, he'd just have to trust her on this one. He huffed to himself at the thought, realizing that he'd only known Bone for... what, an hour? Sibling or not he'd need to be weary.

He instead turned his head to nose at where his broken rib was, glad it hadn't broken so much it was puncturing anything. Until it healed he'd need to be careful.

He was almost half-asleep when Bone returned, eyelids having fallen without his notice. The thump of her body and the flap of her wings jolted him from his dozing, his head raising and eyes flicking open to peer at her.

”That was fast,” he said, marveling at her clear talent of hunting, ”Thanks.”

Unaware of the fungus that lurked beneath the deer's hide, he latched onto it, grabbing it by the head and trying to first work it down whole, his teeth not meant for chewing. His mandibles helped but it still took a while, leaving him vulnerable for the minutes it took to swallow his meal.

Finally he could close his mouth again, jaws closing as he flopped his head down, sighing contently. With one eye open he peered at his sister curiously, his rib aching slightly from the extra stress.

”So about that healing,” he said, "What does that er... entail?”

There was nothing yet from Mother, but it would be only a few minutes before he found someone else lurking in his head, trying to coax his thoughts and feelings to stop being his own.

@Bone

Bone hadn't, in fact, skirted around any questions; there hadn't been any asked, in their last exchange, and she had answered those that had come before.

As for now, she at last settled in to the task of explaining her magic--and preparing it. She was already focusing as Charon began to work on his food. "It takes on some of the injury for myself, but it heals us both," she began; "So, the reason I can't do it before hunting is that it's incredibly draining. Leaves me very tired, and with new... well, I'd say scars but bones are inside, huh-? Not sure how this'll feel," and she gave a little laugh.

The magic wound its way out, then, a gentle touch to mend all injuries--but splitting them with Bone. She felt the wounds inflicted--was that a crack of breaking bone? (She winced, flinching back.) Then she went still, eyes closing and claws gripping the cave floor, as the injuries twisted back to healthy tissue.

It wasn't pleasant. It never was. Perhaps it would have been better for Charon: just a healing, and even a slight reduction in injury, rather than being torn into by an invisible hand. "Damn," she murmured aloud.

Bone shook herself, blinking, and would've grimaced if her face had allowed such expression. "Feeling any better..?" she asked, eyeing Charon over.

The touch started faint, slow. It was nothing particularly obtrusive: just a sudden, if very distant, sensation of well-being.

A slowly creeping sense that all was well, that Charon was... safe, now. That he was with family, and surely loved. But there were no words, as yet.

At first it would feel only... natural. He was here being healed, after all, in shelter, with food, with a new sibling. Maybe that was all it was..?

The status of infection will progress with the thread.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon frowned, ”Well if it's just going to hurt you then don't bother.”

But it was too late and Bone had already cast the spell. He hissed softly at the cracking of bone and the discomfort of his own injuries knitting together. He heaved himself up to shuffle closer to bone and gnashed his teeth, wincing in sympathy.

”You didn't need to do that,” he grumbled, ”I would have been perfectly fine healing up on my own. Now we're both hurt.”

Charon sniffed and lay down next to his warmer sibling, his feelings towards her growing more positive as the minutes passed, though his grumpy demeanor hadn't yet faded. It might not ever, for Charon was just a grump.

”... Thanks,” he finally said, voice gruff as he laid down once more, head turned towards the mouth of the cave. It was always snowing in Ursa but now it appeared to be snowing just a bit harder.

”That's enough magic for today,” he said, ”Let's rest up if we can, maybe get a fire going. You can breathe fire, right?”

@Bone
Skirted around the question as in not explaining before leaving, no need to be passive aggressive about it. Instead of doing stuff like that could you please just write a note or something? Editing exists! Thanks

Bone smiled gently. "We'll be fine--and anyway, we're fed. Don't need to go out for awhile, huh? -Hopefully," she added. She was a little sore, now, and more than a little tired, but she felt the same warm and fuzzy feeling she always did when she'd done well. She didn't quite know why, though. Did she care? ...No, not really; warm and fuzzy was a good thing.

The dragon curled up along one side of the cave wall, and nudged her snout to lay atop her tail. Her eyes peered out across the snow.

"Well, I could make a fire, but I'd need fuel for that. You didn't even leave bones," she added, but it was with amused teasing. She seemed generally good-natured, all in all, without a mean... well, bone, in her body. "Are you cold, though?" she asked, a tad concerned; the reason she'd asked earlier about his temperature preferences was to see if they'd need a fire. Or maybe he just liked them..?

Your post said "skirting around his questioning" and he hadn't asked any questions. This was incorrect. Rather than mention it OOC, I simply addressed it in my IC post. Please try not to assume or refer to things that didn't happen, and then it won't be an issue. There was no passive aggression and making that sort of statement on our public forum is completely inappropriate. If you'd like to continue this conversation, please do so on Discord or via PM, so as to keep this forum pleasant.

@Charon

The sensation of emotional warmth, of well-being, increased.

And then, tentatively at first, came a sensation like... welcoming, as if to see how Charon would respond.

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon snorted, ”What, you don't eat the bones? They're the best part! Crunchy and tasty on the inside.”

He looked out into the increasing blizzard and grumbled, chest spasming and throwing him into a painful coughing fit just at the sight of it. When he stopped he spoke again, voice hoarser than before, ”I am cold but I'm not going out in that. So...”

Charon instead pushed himself up and slithered over to his sister's side, curling up after a moment and settling next to her inside. She was practically a space-heater anyway.

”This good?”, he asked, misinterpreting the welcome feeling for his own rather than someone else's. Look if he had a stat block his intelligence would be a negative.

”Normally I'm just fine,” he said, clearly annoyed, ”But since I caught this damned sickness I've been too weak and too noisy to catch any prey. So all the fat I had disappeared and with it my warmth. I'm guessing that had something to do with keeping me warm.”

@Bone

Bone snorted. Her next words were laced with warm humor, a light tease: "Sure, but I've never met someone who swallowed them all whole! Maybe I can find some dead wood, or something... it's not easy to get in Ursa, though." A faint flicker of melancholy was rapidly replaced by a sort of uncaring, warm buzz. She didn't really need to feed her fire, did she? She was surviving just fine out here without it.

Charon came closer, and she blinked at him. "Oh, sure. It's fine. Actually," she said, thoughtfully--and without explanation, inhaled. She focused on her magic--not to make a roaring flame, but at least to heat the air in the cave a little warmer. It wouldn't last--the mouth of the place was too damn open for that--but it would be something, at least. It didn't come, at first, though--and she grunted. "Magic," she said; "I'll try again in a minute."

The dragon was reshuffling her limbs to relax against the rock when Charon's words jolted her into concern. She swivelled her head again to peer at him, wider-eyed now. "You're sick?" she asked, concerned. She'd thought the cough was just part of his injured rib. But what if he'd come down with something? What if she got sick? That was a worrying thought, though mostly she was wondering how she could help.

"Hm... It might be worth finding a warmer place, when I can fly again. One of the more... sheltered caves, I guess. I could look for fuel, get you some food. Let you rest." Her mind started to drift to Leo--warm, wet, good for resting--but it felt like it hit a block, and the thought bled away without ever fully forming. She didn't think anything of it.

"Unless you have any ideas?" she asked, realizing she might be being a little pushy.